


Two Rule

by rosabelle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Gen, Kings & Queens, Reconciliation, Resolving Differences, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 20:39:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11021169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosabelle/pseuds/rosabelle
Summary: Mother should have just left Orelia to Theo, and spared them both all of this nonsense. Instead, she'd expected them in her death to do what they could not do in her life—agree.Alexandria realized now that that was the point.





	Two Rule

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).



> Many thanks to SC for encouragement and cheerleading. All mistakes are my own.

Outside, beyond the walls of the palace, there were celebrations. Theo knew, because he'd arranged them. He'd spared no reasonable expense for the festivities and gone to great lengths to organize all of the fanfare. 

He took no part in them yet himself, though later he would partake in the feasting and there was some sort of magical display to look forward to, performed by the top university students. He found the prospect intriguing. 

For now, though, he remained in his library, performing what Philippe would term brooding. Theodore preferred to think of himself as merely pensive. 

He had good reason, after all.

She was here. 

She'd appeared some time ago. He'd heard all the commotion that heralded her arrival, but hadn't yet moved himself to greet her. In his stead, he had sent his lover, but even Philippe's patience had come to an end, it seemed, because there were voices in the hall, louder than the quiet chatter of the maids and pages. 

The library door opened and Alexandria, Queen of Orelia, strode in. She shut the door behind her, leaving her attendants outside.

Theodore, King of Orelia, rose to greet her.

They regarded each other in a silence that lasted a heartbeat too long.

"Hello, sister." One of them had to speak first.

"Brother." Her voice was clipped.

Philippe had told him that enough was enough. One of them would have to make the first move eventually. It might as well be him, and it might as well be now—and besides, it would make him look more reasonable later. When Theo hadn't been appropriately swayed by his reasoning (Alexandria was older, after all, and such things should be her responsibility), Philippe had taken a different approach. Words such as childish and petty had been used and, most grievously insulting, not kingly. Briefly, Theo had found himself at odds with both his sister and his consort.

Thankfully, his relationship with Philippe was easier to mend. A simple apology and an act of good faith had swayed Philippe back to his bed—he'd issued an invitation for his sister to join him here for the New Year.

Her reply was so late in coming that it arrived only a day before she did.

Theo hadn't seen Alexandria since the summer before, and they hadn't been in direct contact since. She wrote to Philippe, he wrote to her consort Irene, they both wrote to their cousin Augusta until she refused to be drawn into their squabbles any longer and told them to either sort themselves out or abdicate in her favor if the responsibility of running the kingdom was going to fall to her anyway.

Philippe was right. It was no way to run a kingdom.

Mother would not have wanted this.

There were many things about their current situation that Mother would not have wanted.

Guilty, Theo hesitated before speaking. "You look... well."

Alexandria exhaled loudly through her nose in annoyance. She'd never been one for pleasantries. She wasn't brash, either, only blunt and impatient in a way that Theo admired despite himself. He was too courteous, in her opinion. Too charming. She had no use for him.

"Irene enjoys the view from our chambers," she said, by way of greeting. "I told her it was nothing compared to the gardens in summer, but she finds all the snow romantic. Has the lake frozen yet?"

He blinked. "Nearly." 

"We'll stay until it does, at least," she said. "Irene would like to experience skating." It was a favorite winter pastime of Alexandria's as well. Of all of theirs. "You may join us."

"How generous of you," he said wryly, and thought that was a smile he saw creep up on her face. "I accept."

Alexandria expelled another loud breath, studying him closely. He stared back. The last time he'd had a good look at her, she'd been pale and wan from grief, and dressed in the drab colors of mourning. She looked haler now. She was the image of their mother, nearly—Mother had been pretty, but Alexandria was closer to elegant. She was sturdier and plumper than Mother, but she wore her hair in the same thickly coiled braids that Mother had favored, and her dark eyes were as striking. She was as smart as Mother too—smarter, probably. Smarter certainly than Theo, who had always struggled to match her in their studies, though they had been equally gifted in the arts. Alexandria was as graceful a dancer as he was, and Theo had once enjoyed music as much as she, until one day, in an agreement they reached quite without speaking, she chose music and he chose dance and they each pursued what was theirs without competing any longer.

He could only imagine what would have happened if they had been gifted in the magical arts.

Their fighting arts instructor had never allowed them to face each other, either. Mother had forbidden it.

"You don't have to stand," he said. He was tired of it, at any rate. "And you must be hungry. I'll have some food brought."

**

She was hungry.

It had been a week of riding to get here. Winter was always mild near the coast, but it had been increasingly cold and wet as they had moved eastward. She was dry now, wearing a gown of heavy green wool with a warm, soft lining, and she would sleep well tonight and be less tired in the morning. But she hadn't eaten yet. 

The food he had brought for them included a hearty vegetable soup, and bread warm from the oven. She  
sipped at the broth slowly, smiling faintly at the taste of leeks. She'd always liked them. Theo was like that. Thoughtful, and clever, whereas she was cursed to say the first thought in her head, always.

She'd tried, over the years, to break herself of the habit. She must be diplomatic, Mother had said. It was a necessary skill.

It was a skill that Alexandria simply did not possess, and now that Mother was gone, she and Theo had become exaggerated versions of themselves in their grief over her. With her, he had been coldly polite and she, short-tempered and snappish. 

If only Mother had not died so suddenly... There was no use dwelling on that. 

They couldn't rule forever as they had been, speaking to each other only indirectly. It was an unusual enough arrangement to begin with, the two of them ruling together.

So far they hadn't disagreed on matters of state but, Alexandria knew, they would one day and that would be a weakness to be exploited. Irene had finally asked her which she would rather, deal with her brother now or her neighbors later when they invaded.

Mother had been a good ruler. She'd been popular and admired, and she was descended from many great kings and queens going back nearly two centuries. Alexandria would not like to be remembered by history as the one who let Orelia and House of Orielle fall. 

"I appreciate the food," she said, and tried not to sound too stiff.

Theo laid a slice of cheese atop his bread and nodded. "I wasn't sure that you would come."

"Well." She stirred her soup. "Irene made some good arguments."

He gave her a wry look of understanding. They were alike in their stubbornness, neither wanting to yield. "Philippe did as well."

"When I was here last," she began, "we spoke to each other in a way that was perhaps... undue."

And he'd thrown a goblet at her head, which she generously did not mention now. 

"Must we revisit that?"

"I didn't travel all the way here to argue about which of us Mother favored best." (Especially when it had always been him, did he really not see?) "Besides, what does that matter now?"

Mother should have just left Orelia to Theo alone, and spared them both all of this nonsense. Instead, she'd expected them in her death to do what they could not do in her life—agree.

Alexandria realized now that that was the point.

"There are more important matters now," Theo agreed, too quickly. He was just glad to be spared a reminder of the goblet. " Which reminds me, I have your response to the issue of replacing Ambassador Blanchard. We're agreed on Councillor Attaway, then?"

"Yes," she said. "Though the council may require convincing."

"I've been working on them," he said. "If they hear it from you too, they may be persuaded."

"I can be persuasive."

Theo mumbled something around another mouthful of cheese.

There. That wasn't so hard, and less tedious to spend thirty seconds talking it over than to spend weeks sending couriers back and forth. She supposed they were lucky that Cousin Augusta hadn't poisoned both of them out of exasperation and claimed the throne for herself.

"Would you like to take a walk?" he offered. "I know you've just arrived, but Yvette and I take a walk every afternoon. You could show Irene the bridge in the snow."

"I can't believe you named the dog Yvette, of all things."

"Philippe named her," he informed her. "And it's a perfectly respectable name."

Alexandria snorted, but rose to fetch her cape and Irene, before joining him outside, where both of their standards flew.


End file.
